http://www.scubascuba.com/liveaboards-seaquest-intro.asp

For those of you, who like to get away for Xmas and The New Year, three of us are going on the above trip. Check out the link for full details, but, for now, the brief details are as follows:

21st Dec-5th Jan 2009

2 weeks liveaboard on Seaquest, all inclusive (except booze)

This will cost £2980 plus UK and Male departure taxes of £67 per person. This includes economy class scheduled flights from the UK with Emirates Airlines, airport to liveaboard transfers, full board accommodation in an air-conditioned, en-suite twin/double cabin, canned soft drinks, teas, coffees and snacks, drinking water, all diving, use of tanks and weights and various excursions. A £250 deposit is required to secure a place.

As there are still places left on Seaquest, it would be great to have some more GLUG members join Brian Broadbridge, Allan Isted and myself, Charlie Stewart on this amazing trip.

Santa Claus and stress or pristine diving with Manta Rays? Mmmmm!

Best Wishes

Charlie

Hi everyone,

Hope the cold dark wet skies are making you think towards the coming years diving, new friends and adventures!  Just a quick mention to say that I have uploaded a few more snaps to the website gallery of the recent xmas meal knees up (go on take a peek…you know you want to!) and a reminder to say it is only one month away now (Sat8th March) till the forthcoming LIDS London Dive Show event (see their website for lectures etc.  & note:group ticket entry arranged if sufficient numbers).

Of course for those who have energy left after all that walking around (or cash not spent!) there is also the optional meal afterwards in the city for those who are interested in attending this as well.  Venue & menu will be on site shortly for the post show meal which was a well attended success last year. Hopefully see you all there - Cheers Ray.

Charlie Stewart has written a great new trip report, this one from the Xmas/New Year trip to the Sunadese Red Sea.

If anyone else is feeling similarly inspired then email your reports to me using the Contacts Page. Go on, you know you won’t have time to write anything up once dive season starts!

Royal Evolution - Christmas and New Year 2007
by Charlie Stewart

“I want you to grab a bag, a back pack, anything… and put a towel or book into it.” Having boarded the Royal Evolution, this bizarre request was made to the twenty-four bemused new guests before we were taken, by rib, to the Egyptian Customs in Port Ghaleb. Effectively we were exiting Egypt and had to comply with this charade. Each of our bags was passed through the brand spanking new X-ray machines. In my case, once I had convinced the surly customs man that my car keys were not an instrument of mass destruction, I was allowed to join my fellow travellers. We sat for nearly an hour while they dealt with our passports before letting us return to our boat, which set sail soon after. We had a lot off distance to cover!

The Royal Evolution is 39m long and powered by two 36,000cc engines, which sit on shock absorbers (to minimise engine room noise in the cabins). Our cabins were spacious and complete with stand-in showers, as opposed to the usual live aboard wet rooms. Alan, Brian and myself soon mixed with twenty-two other guests from Germany, UK, Holland and Switzerland. We sailed overnight to St Johns to do our check dives and then, that evening, sailed to Port Sudan, some 440 nautical miles south of Port Galeb. The passport formalities took several hours, after which the real diving started.

Just outside Port Sudan, the 155m wreck of The Umbria is almost exactly as she was on the day she settled onto the seabed (on her port side at Wingate Reef). The bow is the deepest part of the wreck at 38m; at the stern the rudder rests on the sand at 30m. The shallowest part is next to the bridge, where the lifeboat davits just break the surface. Neither the ship nor her contents were ever salvaged. Amongst the various stuff to view is a pizza oven, trucks and 360,000 unexploded bombs, which, if they went up, would wipe out half of Port Sudan. The wreck itself is covered in beautiful soft corals.

On Xmas eve we dived the very pretty south-west plateau of the Sanganeb Atoll. We had our Xmas dinner that evening, complete with Santa hats and tinsel. On Xmas morning we started the day with an early dive on the north plateau of Sanganeb where we were greeted with the amazing site of a school of some 500+ barracuda. They formed a huge funnel effect and gracefully swam around in a circle allowing everyone to take photos. From Sanganeb we headed further north to Sha’ab Rumi.

Sha’ab Rumi (Roman Reef) is most famous for Jacques Cousteau’s Conshelf II Project when, in 1963, five divers lived for a month at 11m, with an ambient air pressure. (Essentially this was an experiment in living under water.) We were able to ascend up into what remained of the Conshelf and remove our regulators for a second, in an air pocket. We spent the rest of our dive exploring the remains of the project and had some pictures taken with our Santa hats.
On the southern plateau of Sha’ab Rumi we got up close and personal with four Grey Reef Sharks which cruised above us as we nestled on the sand.

Further north we dived the Blue Belt wreck on Sha’ab Suedi. Also known as the Toyota Wreck it has the remains of Toyota vehicles strewn around, allowing for interesting photo and videography opportunities. Having explored the wreck, we dived up across the most amazing profusion of table corals, some with three different colours on them - simply beautiful and absorbing!

Another dive of note was at Merlo reef where we saw six hammerheads out in the blue and then made a cruisey ascent up and around the huge and mesmerising pinnacle which characterises this reef.

The next day at Angarosh (Mother of Sharks), we had numerous sightings of hammerheads, followed by what must have been one of the highlights of the trip for me: a massive manta ray, sweeping gracefully over the top of the reef plateau, at some 40m. Lots of computers bleeped as our diving companions violated there MODs just to get a closer look and take pictures. The atmosphere back on the dive deck was electric and, despite the language barrier, there was no doubt that everyone was recounting the experience. On New Year’s Eve we dived Abu Fanjira (Pfeifer) where, watching some hammerheads in the blue, I sensed something behind me… turning around, I found my first ever Silver Tip, which had cruised up close to me. Surprisingly big and curious, it made my heart jump, initially, and then, ultimately, sing! Back on the plateau I had more action with a curious hammerhead, which did two very close passes to me.

On New Year’s Day we were back in Egyptian waters, which seemed surprisingly cold, at 24 degrees! We finished our amazing trip at Umm Khararim (White Rock) Reef, on St Johns.

The Red Sea was the perfect place to spend Xmas and the New Year with good company. As GLUGies we were particularly delighted to find the DIVE magazine feature on GLUG from last year among the various mags on the coffee table… with genuine interest being shown by our new diving companions. All good!

Thanks to Oonasdivers and the crew of Royal Evolution.

I’ve finally managed to set up a (fairly simple) website to display some of my photos. Check it out at www.alanlarsen.co.uk and let me know what you think (there’s an email link in the galleries on the website, or leave a comment on here).

There’s a gallery of some of the photos from the trip to the Sudan that Brian, Charlie and I did over Xmas/New Year. The diving was great - far more big stuff than I managed to capture on camera (hammerheads, silvertips, and more…); the reefs were unspoilt - we dived a couple that have scarcely been dived; and we shared the sites with other divers on only one or two out of nearly 40 dives. I highly recommend it.

London Frontrunners are performing a “Gay and Ghostly” pantomime, in aid of Stonewall, at the Drill Hall on Sunday 13th January at 4pm (bar opens at 3pm). Tickets are £8, and are available by calling The Drill Hall on 020 7307 5060.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Charles Dickens isn’t the only one turning in his grave. As snow falls on Soho, a séance unleashes a quartet of gay and lesbian ghosts who create havoc for the inhabitants of Scrooge’s hotel.

Washerwoman Helena Handcart is all in a spin. Her son, “Tiny” Tim the kitchen boy, wants to know who his father is. Meanwhile, Scrooge’s celebrity niece, Kelly, has gone into hiding (or is it rehab?). Bob Cratchit just wants someone to help roast his nuts.

And Scrooge is planning to evict them all. On Christmas Eve. Without even the dignity of an incompetent interview with Davina McCall.Can the ghosts make him change his ways?

A black jacket was left behind at the Xmas Dinner last nite.If you are missing this please get in touch, I have it now.Hope everyone had an enjoyable evening and it was good to see you all.Chris 

This Saturday (December 1st) is World Aids Day. I’m sure that many of you will have read reports in the press that the UK is the only country in Europe where the infection rate is increasing. Last year alone there were 7,800 new cases in the UK.

I know that we have HIV+ members within GLUG, so let’s show our support for them, and for the 33.2 million other people worldwide living with HIV, by wearing a Red Ribbon to the AGM and Xmas Meal on Saturday.

Neil.

Hi everyone,

I will finalise the Christmas booking on Tuesday so please if you did not book, or did not receive a confirmation from me yet, than email me from the link on the event page. We still have some spaces left.

All the best Alesh

Bookings are now being taken for the GLUG Xmas Meal, which will be held on Saturday 1st December (exact time to be confirmed), at Strada, St Pauls Churchyard, London. Alesh has kindly agreed to organise the booking for us again this year.

All are welcome, including non-diving partners.

If you’d like to book, here’s what to do…

1. Choose your meal options from the menus at the bottom of this post.
2. Make sure you’re logged in to the GLUG website, and go to the Events Page. Click on the tick next to the “Xmas meal” entry, to register your interest, and then click on Alesh’s name, to send him an email.
3. Make sure that you include the following in the email:
   • Your name, and the name of anyone else you’re bringing.
   • Which Menu(s) you want (Vegetarian @ £20pp or Omnivore @ £30pp, including Service Charge)
   • Your options for the “Secondi” and “Dolci” courses from the appropriate menu.
4. That’s it!

NB: Please don’t post your menu choices in the comments below and assume that we’ll treat it as a booking - you must email Alesh from the link on the Events Page.

We need final numbers by 15th November, but there is a limit to the number of people the restaurant can accommodate, so you’re advised to book early!

Please note that if you sign up for the meal, you will be liable for the price of the meal chosen, whether or not you turn up. (If you need to cancel, then let Alesh know by November 15th).

Alesh will acknowledge all bookings by email, so if you don’t get a reply from him within a couple of days, please don’t assume that he received your booking - send your email again.

The menu options are below:

Hi everyone,
I am receiving number of bookings for the Christmas dinner at Strada which I am glad to process, and want to apologise for any late reply to some of those, as I have just moved to Manchester and got pretty busy with the opening of our new restaurant.
I shall be confirming all not yet confirmed emails within a week. so please bear with me.

on other note: does anyone have contact on someone from pink tank, the Manchester gay diving club, or are there any GLUG member in Manchester? it would be nice to stay in touch with diving even when out of London. The pink tank web site is dead for couple of weeks.

Thank you all Alesh

I went to the launch yesterday evening of a ‘coffee table’ book called Reef. It’s been produced by Scubazoo, who are the team who filmed with Monty Halls in his Great Ocean Adventures series for Channel 5. This isn’t just another book of great underwater photos though; they are passionate about marine life and conservation and their passion comes through in the way they present life on the reef - not only coral reefs, but all off-shore underwater habitats - in all its great variety and various life-cycles.

‘Reef’ costs £25, which also includes a DVD (since they started as cameramen rather than photographers). It’s published by Dorling Kindersley.

I have no interest to declare in this, other than I think it’s a great book. (I was invited to the launch through Ocean Optics, from where I buy my underwater camera kit - and, I think, so do Scubazoo.)

So if you’re looking for an Xmas present for a dive buddy - or something to suggest that you would like - I strongly recommend it.

Showing an uncharacteristic degree of forward planning, the subject of the Xmas Meal and AGM was raised at this month’s club meeting.

It was agreed that we should return to Strada at St Pauls again this year for the Xmas Meal. The AGM will, as usual, be held beforehand, at a venue yet to be determined, and we’ll move on to the Restaurant in the evening.

The date has also yet to be agreed - and that’s where you come in. On the GLUG website, you’ll find a new Poll in the Right hand column. Please log in to the website, using your Username and Password - you’ll then be able to vote in the Poll. You can choose from the first 3 Saturdays in December - and if you can make all three, then you can vote for all three! However, if you have a preference, then please vote for the one or two dates that you prefer.

Once you’ve voted, you’ll be able to see the current results.

Note: If you can’t remember your username & password, your username is quite often your first initial followed by your last name, all in lowercase - so try resetting your password using that first. If that doesn’t work, then please email me using the Contact Form and selecting “website problems”.

Anyone want to get away for Xmas and New Year this year?

Brian Broadbridge, Charlie Stewart and I have found a great trip to the relatively un-dived reefs and wrecks off Sudan. It’s a 14 day liveaboard, departing 20 December from Port Ghaleb (with flight to Marsa Alam). The boat is Royal Evolution: check it out at www.royalevolution.com/default.aspx. It’s the 14 day Sudan itinerary out of Port Ghaleb. Returns to Port Ghaleb and back to the UK on 3 January 2008. Water temperature will be 25/26C (ish) - but above all, this is an opportunity to dive a part of the Red Sea that the crowds haven’t yet reached.

Cost will be £2,200 (full board etc. on the liveaboard as usual, except that beer and soft drinks are extra; last night in a hotel at Port Ghaleb). The trip is being booked through Oonasdivers.

As well as the three of us, several others have already expressed an interest. If you’re interested, drop me (or any of us) an email and we can fill you in on anything else you may want to know. (But note that Charlie will be away skiing for a week from Friday and I’ll be diving in Lembeh Straits from 22 March until 1 April).

If anyone is planning on going to the Dive show in the Docklands for the weekend of 11th/12th March and would perhaps like to have dinner afterwards in London on the Saturday night with Fred and myself (the visiting Guernsey folk) then drop either of us an email and perhaps we could arrange a meet up for those wishing to …as well as the meal in London for the evening. (Venue open for suggestions/feedback?).
If not going to the show but wish to join in the meal then all are welcome…looking forward to seeing you!

For those who missed the excellent Xmas Glug meal (a definite must for this year)…here’s your chance to redeem yourselves!